{"id":24383,"date":"2025-10-31T18:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/24383\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:21:11","slug":"brooklyn-man-dies-trying-to-save-dogs-from-flooded-basement-apartment-neighbors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/24383\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn man dies trying to save dogs from flooded basement apartment, neighbors say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two people died in flooded basements during Thursday&#8217;s intense rain and flash flooding in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>A 39-year-old man was killed in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and a 43-year-old man, identified as Juan Carlos Montoya Hernandez, was found dead inside a boiler room in Washington Heights on Manhattan&#8217;s Upper West Side.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Brooklyn flooding victim died trying to save his dogs, neighbors say<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/vlcsnap-2025-10-31-12h57m08s143.png#.png\" alt=\"vlcsnap-2025-10-31-12h57m08s143.png \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  Heavy rain causes flash flooding on Thursday, Oct. 30 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<p>                CBS News New York<\/p>\n<p>Neighbors on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights  say the 39-year-old man named Aaron was killed scrambling to save his dogs. He rescued one and went back inside for another, but never resurfaced.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He went for one dog, brought one up. He went down for the next dog, and he never came back alive,&#8221; neighbor Kenneth Oates said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Happy go lucky guy, loved his dogs, always came out and talked to everybody around here,&#8221; said neighbor Richard Hegel.<\/p>\n<p>An FDNY scuba team recovered the man&#8217;s body after the storm inundated the neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Neighbors say they had to clear storm drains themselves<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/vlcsnap-2025-10-31-12h56m40s407.png#.png\" alt=\"vlcsnap-2025-10-31-12h56m40s407.png \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  Residents in Crown Heights, Brooklyn say the storm drains were cleaned for Thursday&#8217;s deadly storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                CBS News New York<\/p>\n<p>Officials sent out warning notifications about potential flooding Thursday, but residents say the city never dispatched crews to clear out their clogged storm drains.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Neighbors stood in the rain for hours, sweeping away leaves, dirt and debris themselves, but it wasn&#8217;t enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They know when it&#8217;s going to rain or whatever, clean the drain. This is dangerous business, and somebody actually died,&#8221; neighbor Sylvia Elcock-Als said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It looked catastrophic. You could see the dirt. There were guys up to mid-thigh at every sewer raking, raking, raking. There were three cars here bucketing their water out,&#8221; said Hegel.<\/p>\n<p>Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwall <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nyc-deadly-flooding-prevention\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">told CBS News New York<\/a> the department works to clear the city&#8217;s 150,000 catch basins ahead of each storm and it had 38 crews ready to respond to reports of flooding. He said the city&#8217;s sewer system was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nyc-flooding-record-rainfall-totals\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">overwhelmed by the record rainfall<\/a>, and there was no way to respond to the 800 calls that came in within a short period of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He also said heavy rain can sweep leaves into catch basins that have already been cleaned, and that crews found up to a foot of leaves blocking some drains in Brooklyn. At this point, it&#8217;s unclear if the DEP had crews in this particular neighborhood in Crown Heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Investigators with the Department of Buildings are looking into the man&#8217;s death. They issued a partial vacate order for the property and said a second exit door in the basement was blocked.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two people died in flooded basements during Thursday&#8217;s intense rain and flash flooding in New York City. 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